Early Learning Bulletin

Message from the Deputy Early Learning, Parents, and Whānau

Tēnā koutou katoa,

Quality early childhood education can make a real difference to a child's life. We know that children who experience it do better at later learning and in life. This is why the Government has a Better Public Services (BPS) target that in 2016, 98% of children starting school will have participated in quality ECE. There is a strong focus on supporting the participation of those children least likely to attend ECE, particularly Māori and Pasifika children.

Our system provides parents with quality ECE, easy access to a range of different types of ECE, and a good level of affordability through subsidies like 20 Hours ECE. To be of good quality, ECE services must be approachable, welcoming for parents and whānau, be culturally responsive and provide appropriate learning experiences for every child. Parent’s being able to choose the ECE service that is best for them and their child is important to us.

There have been some announcements at the Ministry as part of improving the Ministry’s stewardship role and increasing the focus on improving the progress and achievement of children and young people from 0 to 18. We are making some internal changes to better support this. These changes are designed to continually lift our performance.

Changes include:

The ECE Group Manager role and policy function will move to be part of the Ministry’s Education System Performance group. Dr Andrea Schollmann is the Deputy Secretary of this group.

The ECE Operational Policy, Implementation and Funding teams and responsibility for the implementation of the Early Learning Information System (ELI) will move to the Ministry’s sector facing group – Sector Enablement and Support. Katrina Casey is the Deputy Secretary of this group.

ECAC will continue and the ECE teams across the Ministry will continue working closely with ECAC and other ECE groups as required.

These changes took effect from 10 August.

ERO Report on Infant and Toddlers

In Terms 1 and 2 2014, ERO investigated how a service’s curriculum supported infants and toddlers (children aged 0-3 years) to be competent and confident communicators and explorers.

The review of 235 early childhood service was prompted by recent reports that highlighted the need to focus on how infants and toddlers are supported in New Zealand’s early childhood sector.

ERO found that the majority of the 235 ECE services reviewed had a curriculum that responded well to infants and toddlers care and learning needs. All those reviewed had a strong focus on the wellbeing and belonging parts of the early childhood curriculum.

Over half the services (56 percent) reviewed had a responsive curriculum that supported infants and toddlers to become competent and confident communicators and explorers. But some services provided fewer opportunities than others for their infants and toddlers to develop these skills.

Overall, the report showed that many providers are doing very well when it comes to actively promoting positive learning outcomes for their infants and toddlers. What we’ve also seen is that this remains an area for some providers to put more focus on.

I urge you to read and reflect on this important report. ECE services need to make sure they are meeting the curriculum criteria of the ECE Regulations. This includes making sure you are offering a curriculum that is responsive to the learning needs of this age group.

I want to remind you that it is the responsibility of your ECE service to provide your staff with professional development to make sure that they’re able to deliver the best outcomes for children.

The Ministry will continue to support professional development on aspects of the curriculum through our SELO programme, particularly to those services who are in communities who could most benefit from it.

You can read the full ERO report on Infants and toddlers at: http://ero.govt.nz/National-Reports/Infants-and-toddlers-competent-and-confident-communicators-and-explorers-June-2015

Nāku iti noa,

Rawiri Brell
Deputy Secretary
Early Learning, Parents, and Whānau

Critical Need to Know and Action

Optional charges and donations for 20 Hours ECE 20 Hours ECE is a higher rate of funding based on the full average cost of providing early childhood education (ECE) to the regulated standard. All licensed ECE services and kōhanga reo can choose to offer 20 Hours ECE. Those services that choose to offer it cannot charge compulsory fees for hours attested as 20 Hours ECE. Some services that choose to offer 20 Hours ECE may want to offer, and parents may wish to access, specific additional features that are over and above regulation. While services cannot charge a compulsory fee for these additional features, they can request an optional charge for them. Payment of an optional charge is not compulsory. Parents must have a choice about whether they want to pay for the additional feature the optional charge is for. Read the full update on optional charges and donations on the Ministry of Education website. You can find out more about optional charges and donations on the Ministry of Education website.
Health and safety reforms update We are developing a new web space to help you prepare for the upcoming health and safety reforms. The web space provides an update on the status of the Bill following the release of the Select Committee report. It includes a link to the full Select Committee report and a summary of the key Select Committee changes. You will also find an update on volunteers and some questions and answers. You can find this under the news section. We have identified 11 key components of an effective health and safety system. Under each component, we will be publishing factsheets explaining the changes to the legislation. There are now four factsheets – two on leadership and two on worker participation. You will also find some additional documents and links under each component, which we will continue to review and update in the context of the legislative changes. Read more about a health and safety system for schools and ECE services.
Safety checking of children’s workers We have updated our website with additional information to help you meet the safety checking requirements made under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 and regulations. This includes planning tips and information about safety checking students and trainees. It is important to plan your safety checking. You need to complete all components of the safety check before a new children’s worker starts work. All paid children’s workers must be safety checked. Those whose work is unpaid as part of educational or vocational training must also be safety checked. This includes students on practicum. The safety checking requirements are being phased in. The date from which safety checking starts depends on whether the person is a core or non-core worker. Read more about ECE sector requirements under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.
Funding and financial reporting requirements If you have not yet submitted your 2014 audited financial statements to the Ministry, or if your statements do not meet the financial reporting requirements, please note that your 1 November advance funding may be withheld. All audited financial statements must be accompanied by a declaration form, which is available here. Your early childhood education service may be exempt from the financial reporting requirements if it did not complete a full financial year ending in 2014. It could also be exempt if you received less than $80,000 in funding from the Ministry of Education for the full financial year ending in 2014. If you are exempt, you must still send in the declaration form with the appropriate section filled out. Formal extensions will not be given, so please send in all required documents to the Ministry as soon as possible.
ECE Lead and ECE Educate information now on Education.govt.nz Our corporate website, www.minedu.govt.nz, was disestablished at the end of June, and both our ECE websites (ECE Lead and ECE Educate) have now also been turned off. Information that was previously on these websites is now being made available on our new website. More information about these changes is available on Education.govt.nz

Upcoming Items

Parents and caregivers invited to Special Education Update forums
The Ministry of Education is inviting parents, caregivers and others to additional Special Education Update forums to discuss improvement ideas.
Please let your parents know that they are invited to these forums.

More information about these forums in available on the Ministry of Education website.

Upcoming He Pānui Kōhungahunga survey
We are pleased to distribute the 7th issue of He Pānui Kōhungahunga – The Early Learning Bulletin.
Feedback about He Pānui Kōhungahunga has been very positive, and we have been pleased with both the response to this new way of communicating with you, and the interest from new subscribers.
We are keen to hear more from you about how you find the format and content of this publication. We will soon email out a link to a short survey ̶ we encourage you to take part.

General Information Updates

Raising Children resources The Ministry has been involved with the Raising Children project, which recently launched a set of audio-visual resources on parenting matters. More information about the resources and where to access them can be found on the Ministry of Education website.	ERO report on infants and toddlers – actions required There has been much media attention over the last couple of weeks about this report, which has implications for all ECE services with children aged from 0-3 years. More information about the key findings, including actions for ECE services caring for infants and toddlers, can be found on the Ministry of Education website.
Are your cot mattresses too soft? Soft sleep surfaces are a risk factor for Sudden Unexpected Death of an Infant (SUDI) as they may conform to the contours of a baby’s face and suffocate them. Advice on buying and checking the cot mattresses can be found on the Ministry of Education website.	Reminder: Survey of Income, Expenditure and Fees at ECE Services (2015) All services are asked to complete the Survey of Income, Expenditure and Fees electronically and return it by 24 August 2015 to ECE.statistics@education.govt.nz. More information about the survey is available on the Ministry of Education website.
ECE Return report ECE services who submitted an electronic ECE Return for census week 22-28 June 2015 may have been sent a report indicating areas to focus on from a data quality perspective. Please look at this report and update your student management system (SMS) or ELI Web as required. More information about the ECE Return process can be found on the Ministry of Education website.	Traumatic incidents When a traumatic incident impacts on an early childhood education (ECE) service’s community, the way it is managed strongly influences people’s recovery and can limit further risk. Information on traumatic incidents, including who to contact for support, is available on the Ministry of Education website.
Enrolment Agreement Form Privacy Statement All early childhood education (ECE) information has now been moved to the new Education.govt.nz website. The website links within the Privacy Statement on the ECE Enrolment Agreement Form have been updated to reflect this move. More information about this move, and where to find the Enrolment Agreement Form template can be found on the Ministry of Education website.